Police impersonator story a hoax

by Susan Oâ€™Neill
The woman who claimed to be a victim of a robbery conducted by a man impersonating a police officer has confessed that the incident never took place.

Sugar Grove investigator John Sizer said they brought the 32-year-old Yorkville resident in on Wednesday night for further questioning when the investigation revealed inconsistencies in her story.

She was charged on Thursday afternoon with disorderly conduct, a Class 4 felony, for filing a false police report.

â€œIt may just be a sign of the times,â€ Sizer said.

The woman and her husband had both recently lost their jobs. With a family of three children including a new baby, the woman sold her jewelry for money to pay her bills. She made up the story about the robbery to cover up her plight.

â€œIt was more of a crime of desperation,â€ he said. â€œI donâ€™t think she had any idea it would attract this much attention.â€

Sizer said if there is something good that came of this, it is that the system worked well to get the word out.

â€œThe media response was phenomenal,â€ he said. â€œThe public response was overwhelming. We had calls from all over the place. Virtually everyone we talked to was aware of it.â€

Sizer said they received dozens of leads and the department followed up on them. The down side was the number of man hours spent following this complaint.